In early December, Marfrig and BRF announced an agreement to transfer assets(representing 300,000 tons of processed food a year) between companies as part of CADE’s demands to approve the Sadia-Perdigão merger.Brasil Foods was ordered by the regulatorto sell units as part of its takeover of rival Sadia SA. Theassets include 12 brands, 10 processing plants, eightdistribution centers and four slaughterhouses

Marfig’s total annual sales, currently estimated in 1.8 million tons of food a year, will jump to about 2.1 million. BRF’s sales of processed meat, estimated in about 2.8 million tons a year, are likely to drop to 1.6 million tons. This setup should make the market more competitive, according to CADE (Brazil’s antitrust authority).

Despite this quick advance in market share, Marfrig should continue working hard on its goal to earn half of its revenues in industrialized food. Currently, with the incorporation of the new assets, it is at 45%. Marfrig had about R$600M in net loss in 3Q 2011.

With BRF’s assets, the growth that Marfrig had expected to materialize in five years will come in 60 days. BRF’s ten brands of processed food, including Rezende, will help to boost Marfrig’s operations significantly.